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Show I Pauii$i$ infttontona l (Correspondence Intermountain Catholic.) Helena, Mont., Feb. 1. Animated by a spirit of noble self-sacrifice and a consuming desire to do the master's work. in a fitting manner, the Paulist Fathers Hopper and MacCorry have been zealously laboring in Montana for months, not only stirring up religious re-ligious fervor and a Christian spirit among Catholics, but' also disseminating disseminat-ing truths concerning the questions of Catholic doctrine among our Protestant Protest-ant friends. Since September last, missions, mis-sions, each one week in duration, have been given in Butte, Anaconda, Great Falls and Helena and other places. In each case success was the handmaid hand-maid to the noble work. The spirits of , devotional piety and Christian charity blossomed after each mission as readily read-ily as flowers spring from the bosom of Mother Earth when called out by the invigorating rays of a southern sun. Montana boasts of her immense mineral wealth, her fertile valleys and matchless scenery, but the work of the Paulist Fathers has brought happiness happi-ness to wrecked homes, peace to many a sin scourged conscience and hope to many a discouraged soul that nature's richest and rarest powers could never give, blessings that could come only through the channels of a zealously preached mission. Forgetful of self, but ever mindful' of the field wherein the harvest is great and the laborers few, these men press forward, prepared to battle for God's truth at all times and to plead with the wayward sinner in all places, until the vital chord snaps, i The latest triumph scored by the Paulist Fathers was the non-Catholic mission given in Helena during the week ending Jan. 20. The lectures were given in the Auditorium, a building which seats 1.S00 people. "Standing room" was frequently the order of the evening. All denominations were well represented. The lectures were given und the auspices of "The Catholic Truth . Society." Music by the Academy Acad-emy and Catholic choirs furnished pleasing overtures and interludes during dur-ing the entire Aveek. On the opening evening the Reverend lecturers were introduced by Colonel Saunders, who, during his few remarks, made the generous gen-erous statement that the people of Helena Hel-ena wore broad enough and liberal enough to hear both sides of any question, ques-tion, willingly, before passing judgment. judg-ment. Rev. Father MacCorry opened the series by speaking on "The Divinity of Christ." Before launching out into his subject Father MacCorry spoke of the happy results that must accrue from the course of meetings just beginning, begin-ning, as they would give to all attending at-tending a mutual understanding of their respective religious beliefs. "Though we disagree, let us join our hands across the unfortunate chasm and unite our efforts for the betterment of mankind" a noble sentiment and expressed aptly the hopes of the speaker. During the entire week the attention of the audience might well be characterized charac-terized as "breathless," and frequent bursts of applause greeted the speakers speak-ers when some telling point was scored. Every thing that faultless diction, apt illustration, logical reasoning and rhetoric could do was pressed into service serv-ice in order to put before our dissent ing brethren the reasonableness of our belief and to portray the work of the grandest life that history can hold forth for the admiration and imitation of men. There is a candor about the non-Catholic non-Catholic missions given by the Paulists that is in itself convincing. Many were present who thought they differed on points with the speakers, yet were moved by the earnest, whole-souled discussion and the seriously earnest answers an-swers made to all questions. One of Father MacCorry's best efforts ef-forts was in defense of the Bible. In part the Reverend gentleman said: "Books like men live. ,and have their being only to die and pass to dust. They have their age and of., that age they form a part. They set forth principles princi-ples and discuss living issues vital to their day but of today and tomorrow tomor-row a memory only. Books, historical and complete at the beginning of a century cen-tury pass to decay, while others more recent take their pflacea But every good book written has Its life, its soul, the essence of its being embodied within that one grand work, the fountainhead of wisdom, of knowledge and truth, the Bible. "Dante, Milton, Bunyan, Shakespeare, Shakes-peare, Pope, Macauley, Byron, in fact, all the great authors, drank of this fountain of knowledge. It has been the inspiration of poetry and the model of prose. The orator, sculptor, artist, has learned and lived in the genius of the scripture. The lecturer spoke with great earnestness of the stories of ages, the withering acorn and cutting ridicule of infidelity, the persecution of fanaticism and constant malicious abuse bestowed upon the Bible Bi-ble at all times, but, he added, "thank God it has withstood and will continue to withstand these attacks unchanged and unscathed." "Regarding the authenticity of the Bible, he said that mankind has just as true proofs that God, through the instrumentality in-strumentality of his inspired men, wrote the Bible as we may prove that Shakespeare Shakes-peare wrote "Hamlet" and "Macbeth," or Milton "Paradise Lost." That in giving credence to authority we must rather regard the testimony of the many than the1 assertion of the few. We should believe rather the multitude of Christians, said Rev. Father MacCorry, Mac-Corry, than the unbelief of a few individuals. indi-viduals. Notwithstanding a Voltaire, a Hume, a Chesterfield, Paine and In-gersoll, In-gersoll, the Bible lives and speaks today, to-day, as forcibly as in the early days of Christianity. If scripture were not of God, he asked, how could it have withstood these attacks? The scripture scrip-ture writers were simple uneducated men. Then how could1 their words, simple as themselves, have come through time hurled with the force of a catapult if not of divine origin. Paul, the tentmaker of Gallllee, and his colleagues col-leagues .wrote as none have written since. "Infidelity charges the J3ible with degrading de-grading woman." "That," asserted the speaker, "is a lie as base and malicious as the' heart of the man who uttered it." "Regard," he added, "the attitude of ' Christ toward his blessed mother during his divine life and his solicitude for her and the sorrowing woman even on the cross. The infinite pathos of that scene ia . inexpressible. Consider then the position of , women in countries coun-tries where the scriptures are practically practi-cally unknown and compare their abject ab-ject slavery there with the freedom, the dignity and high regard of womanhood in countries Christian. See their position posi-tion in China and Asia and then In free America. The scriptures have done more for an enslaved womanhood than all other agencies combined." Father Hopper's defense of the Confessional Con-fessional as a divine and salutary institution, in-stitution, was particularly strong and appealing as well, in substance the reverened gentleman said: ' "Protestants generally misunderstood confession as an institution its purposes pur-poses and results. He said that confession con-fession was founded by God, and must be everlasting as the church itself. "When He would deliver His people from tho bondage of Egypt.He appointed appoint-ed Moses as their deliverer," said ReV. Father Hopper. "When the Jews were about to be destroyed at the Red Sea, and later, when they were almost per- 1 ishing of thirst in the desert, God did not , interpose visibly, but employed a human being as the instrument of His mercy. When Paul was bent on"bia mission of persecution. Christ did not personally restore his sight and baptize bap-tize him, but He sent His servant Ananias An-anias to acf in His name. He has adopted, .the same method in the pro-1 pro-1 Ss,v forSiving sin. As St. Paul says, v hath reconciled us to himself through Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.' That trod sends Christ to reconcile sinners; sin-ners; Christ sends His ministers. They are His Ambassadors, reconciling sinners sin-ners in his name. This is still more I T if oAShown in the words of Christ, Jonn 20: 'As the Father hath sent me, r-if ? STerJd you- Receive ye the Holy unost Whose sins you shall forgive, i tney are forgiven them, and whose sins I ?J?U s!?a11 retain, they are retained.' I Anere 13 no eseape from the meaning of I l,S0 wras unless you give up the Bi-Dlo Bi-Dlo and deny the authority of Christ. it is objected, that even admitting ennst gave that power to His apostles, it must have died with them. Why should it? Cite one passage of holy rit to that effect. Did the power to preach the gospel or to baptize die with it? apostles? Certainly not. Neither cucl that other still more necessary power die with their maker. Whilst sin continues to exist the remedy for sin, ordained by Christ, must continue also. VX' ather Hooper reminded his non-catholic hearers, that the Church la far ' from teaching that all that is necessary for the pardon of sin, is to confess them. Besides this, a heart-ieit heart-ieit and profound sorrow is necessarv. ana a sincere determination to strive earnestly to avoid sin for the future. He also alluded to the instinct of con-..2n con-..2n SO natural to the human heart, .the little child softly whispers to its mother the confession of some trifling tri-fling fault." jfaid Rev. Father Hopper; the criminal, after having fled from justice for years, oftentimes finds the weight of crime too heavy to be borne, and voluntarily delivers himself up to the officers of the law. The human heart seeks to unbosom itself to one who is in truth a sympathising and trustworthy friend. What wonder that God who so well knows our nature should' mercifully provide for this inclination in-clination of the soul by establishing a sacred tribunal of mercy, drawing around It the veil of eternal secrecy where the weaknesses and the wounds of tho soul may be laid bare without fear of the confidence being poisoned, buch a merciful ordinance of divine wisdom haa been provided for ua in the sacrament of penanca There the Sin-laden soul can cast off its burden; there the repentant prodigal is sure of a loving welcome; there happiness and peace, twin ang-els, are ever hovering, offering their gifts to the sin-si ricken heart." The question box, that very novel" and certainly very useful feature of the mission, . was well patronized. All queriera were carefully and thoroughly handled, although some of them were certainly of the venerable, "out of ut4d" order. The week's work as a whole was a most gratifying success to j promoters, speakers and hearers alike. demned, but they cannot be charged to. the Church, which never sanctioned the persecution of any people. History shows that the Church has been a friend to the Jews on many occasions. "Take the persecutions, of protestants," protest-ants," continued Rev. Father Hopper. "Refer to the reign of Henry VIII and Edward VI. Read history and 'you will find that in those reigns- Catholics were deprived of their rights, their liberty, their property, because of their faith. What about Queen Mary, some one will ask. I do admit that persecutions took place then, but deny that the church persecuted anyone.". After further elaborating' upon- the subject. Rev. Father Hopper turned to the next question, which referred to the St. Bartholomew massacre and the Spanish inquisition. Rev. Father Hopper Hop-per declared the massacre and the inquisition in-quisition to have been purely political events having no connection with the Church, which had approved of neither, and which would have prevented both had it been in its power. "Such was the state at the time of the inquisition," said Rev.- Father Hopper, "that heresy was treason and a political crime. As such it was punished, and at no time did the Church sanction or approve ap-prove of the practices of that tribunal. Indeed, on more than one occasion, the Holf Father sought to interfere with their cruelties. It was entirely ana purely a political movement. The Church was not at fault them. I do not deny the fact, but do deny that the Church was responsible in any way." A selection by a chorus of twelve voices concluded the programme. Rev. Father Hopper, announced at the close of the meeting that, owing to a political meeting which was to be held in the auditorium Wednesday evening, there would be no lecture that evening. The lecture on "Confession," announced announc-ed for Wednesday evening, would be given Thursday evening at the Auditorium, Audi-torium, and the public generally was lnvuea 10 aitena it. A feature will be made of the question box at all the lectures given thia week by the Paulist fathers. |